Miami Heat put on a defensive clinic on their home coming as they defeat Portland Trail Blazers in their home town at FTX Arena.
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Miami Heat Squared off against Portland Trail Blazers at the FTX arena. Miami were in all sorts of trouble as their lead scorer Tyler Herro had been placed in the health and safety protocols. Kyle Lowry was unavailable due to personal reasons. Jimmy Butler was ejected just before the end of the first half. Despite all of these Heat put on a commanding performance to seal the victory against the visitor’s Portland Trail Blazers.
The Heat started with PJ Tucker, Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Gabe Vincent and Duncan Robinson. Trail Blazers Started with Anfernee Simons, CJ McCollum, Nassir Little, Robert Covington and Jusuf Nurkic. Trail Blazers, we’re without their star player Damian Lillard.
Anfernee Simons Started the scoring for the Blazers with a three-point shot and McCollum followed it up with another three-point shot. Trail Blazers, we’re up and running early in the first quarter 10-2. McCollum Scored three 3- point shots as he scored 11 points in the first quarter as the Heat trailed by 3 points by end of 1st quarter.
Caleb Martin and Max Strus early into the second quarter with their attack on the paint scored 14 -2 in four minutes. Max Strus Shot two three-point shots in this duration as Trail Blazers called the timeout. Heat Cruised to an 8point lead.
Anfernee Simons was back on the court after the timeout and scored two three-point shots reducing the game to two points. Simons scored 17 points as he exhibited three-point shooting at the best, scoring four three-pointers.
Jimmy Butler was ejected in the second quarter with 2:28 minutes left for halftime as he was unhappy with foul being not called on Nurkic as he scored and as a result, he was offended with the decision of the referee and the referee called two technical fouls on Butler.he was ejected from the game.
Miami headed into the halftime break with a two-point lead on some excellent shooting display by Max Strus and Caleb Martin.
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Caleb Martin started in the place of Jimmy Butler after halftime Butler was ejected from the game. Martin put on a clinical performance in the third quarter scoring 14 points in reply to CJ McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic scoring from the paint.
Bam Adebayo produced one of the best performances of the season on the defensive end as the Heat still trailed by one point at the end of the third quarter with the score line at 78-80.
Dwayne Dedmon lit up the fourth quarter for the Heat with his rapid scoring of the paint scoring 10 points but CJ McCollum tied the game 87- 87 with a three-point jumper with 6:57 left on the clock.
Bam Adebayo erupted in the fourth quarter scoring 10 points as Miami outscored Trail Blazers in the last five minutes scoring 17-5 and winning the game 104-92.
Anfernee Simons and Caleb Martin were the top performers for the Trail Blazers and Heat scoring 27 and 26 points respectively. Jusuf Nurkic finished with 18 points and 14 rebounds, Robert Covington garnered 11 Points and 12 rebounds for Portland.
After the game, many poured their comments of appreciation towards the Heat players for their outstanding display of basketball skills and their defensive work. Adebayo stealed the ball five times in the game.
Simons Said ” The athleticism and length kind of disrupted us a little bit”.
Adebayo Quoted “Underdog Mentality”.
